Indian Documentary Screening (Sunday)
VIEW EVENT DETAILSThe documentary form has been employed in myriad ways to record the ecology of the art field, offering endless potential to create new stories, complicate old ones, and circulate them to an expanded audience. This screening series looks at how documentaries can shape the way histories of art are constructed, remembered, mystified, and debated — within the context of India's thriving contemporary art scene. Through different genres and traditions of film-making, this two-day program explores how Indian filmmakers have looked at the field of contemporary art. At the end of each day of screenings, there will be a discussion with the directors in English.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Cassandra's Gift (2012 / India / Dir. Payal Kapadia / 22 minutes / English)
Registration 14:15; Screening 14:30
Over a period of two years, Nalini Malani created In Search of Vanished Blood, a video/shadow play, consisting of six video projections and five reverse-painted, rotating Mylar cylinders, as part of dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel. Cassandra's Gift traces various thoughts behind the artwork that comment on social issues such as gender, displacement and violence, and draws on the Greek mythical figure of Cassandra — the princess cursed with the gift of prophecy whom no one believed.
Payal Kapadia is a filmmaker living and working in Mumbai whose work deals with issues concerning the socio-political themes in India and spans documentary, experimental film, and animation. Her film Titli Udi (Flight of the Butterfly, 2009) has been shown at numerous international film festivals.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
As the Crow Flies (2004 / India / Dir. Kumar Shahani / 23 minutes / English)
Registration 15:00; Screening 15:15
As the Crow Flies is an aesthetic exploration of the works of the eminent painter Akbar Padamsee. Director Kumar Shahani shares concerns in art, aesthetics and philosophy with Padamsee, and converses with the artist via the sound of the city, the music of Gnan, and images that spiral into cocoon-like structures of meditative space.
Kumar Shahani is an Indian film director, born in Larkana, Sindh (now Pakistan) in 1940. Shahani was a student of Ritwik Ghatak at the Film and Television Institute of India and also studied under the renowned Marxist historian DD Kosambi. Upon receiving a French Government scholarship, Shahani left for France to study at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC) and assisted Robert Bresson on Une femme douce. He returned to India to make his first feature film Maya Darpan in 1972.
*Please note that if Typhoon Signal Pre-No.8/No. 8 or above is hoisted at or after 12.30 pm on September 22, the above screenings will be cancelled.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
A Monkey's Raincoat (2005 / India / Dir. Mani Kaul / 51 minutes / English with subtitles)
Registration 15:45; Screening 16:00
A Monkey's Raincoat is a documentary about young artists working at the Rijkasakademie, Amsterdam, an institute that offers annual residencies to talented artists from around the world. During their annual Open Studios, the resident artists' work and research are presented to the public. Director Mani Kaul follows a group of resident artists to the Venice Biennale and then to their studios in Amsterdam. We see three in particular – Serbian artist Slobedan Milosevic, Croatian artist Lala Rascic and Chinese artist Kan Xuan — as they embark on their personal pursuits of the true nature and creation of modern art.
Mani Kaul (1944-2011) was born in Rajasthan into a family hailing from Kashmir. His uncle was the well-known actor/ director Mahesh Kaul. A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India, Mani Kaul's films have radically overhauled the relationship of image to form, of speech to narrative, with the objective of creating a "purely cinematic object" that is above all visual and formal. His 1989 production Siddheshwari was awarded the National Film Award.
Discussion with directors 17:00; Close 17:30
**The screening is postponed to next Saturday, September 28 at 14:30 regardless of the weather conditions on September 22.
Ticket holders can use their tickets for the September 22 screening of A Monkey’s Raincoat on September 28 without re-booking online.
Asia Society Hong Kong Center is a Program Partner for "Sites of Construction" Screening Programme presented by Asia Art Archive
"Sites of Construction" is financially supported by the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The content of these programs does not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.